On January 11, an Avro transport aircraft belonging to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (drdo) plunged nose-first into the ground at Arkonam, about 60 km from Chennai. Four crew members and four scientists of drdo perished. Apart from the near-irreplaceable value of the human losses, the crash has also dealt a body blow to a vital project of the Indian Air Force (iaf).
At air force bases like the ones at Amritsar and Pathankot, pilots have been indoctrinated on the pivotal tenet of war games: reaction time. Take off in three minutes to fight off an attack from across the border. In recent years, briefings have ended with a promise that sooner rather than later, a lone sentinel would patrol the skies and raise the alarm at least 20 minutes before the attacking fighter's arrival on the horizon.
But the clock on the Airborne Early Warning (aew) aircraft has been turned back by at least two years. The crash of the aew's prototype has distressed peers at the drdo and the iaf alike. For, an aew has been a long-felt need of the iaf. It is unmatched in providing real-time information on tactical air strikes or functioning as a communication channel between the command station and the iaf's fighters. Besides, an aew is the most essential cover in a nuclear environment because it will identify the aircraft carrying nuclear arsenal and help in its destruction even before it enters our airspace, says a senior combat pilot of the iaf.
The decision to build the aew was taken by then drdo chief V.S. Arunachalam in the late '80s, prompted by America's eagerness to equip Pakistan with its Airborne Warning and Control System (awacs). Apart from leaving India's forward bases open to constant spying, it would have also altered the balance of power, with possibly disastrous results. In his book awacs: The New Destabiliser, Jasjit Singh, director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, says: An awacs capability would provide Pakistan with a major qualitative superiority over the Indian Air Force, Navy and Army. What is worse is that perceptions of such superiority may provide the incentives for launching yet another military aggression against India... awacs would also be critical for a credible nuclear weapons delivery by combat aircraft, even with a very small arsenal.
To counter the threat, Airborne Surveillance and Controlan organisation under the drdowas set up. Renamed the Centre for Airborne Systems (cabs), it was able to get its first aircraft off the ground only in 1990: the Avro, given by the iaf fitted with a rotodome on its back to hold the antennae and other sensors. In the process, the teams from cabs, Bharat Electronics and the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment had to overcome a host of problems. The team also had the exacting task of fine-tuning the radar to spot aircraft flying over land or water. During tests, the aew system had proved itself equal to the task.
All that progress has been wiped out with the crash. More than the loss of the technology demonstrator, the project has been hit hard by the deaths of the scientists, all experts in their field. Such is the loss of the aircraft and the men that Arunachalam's successor, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, broke down several times during his visit to Bangalore last week. cabs director K. Ramchand is disconsolate every time he walks past the empty hangar. For, on completion of the test flights, the radar and accompanying gadgets were to be fitted on a Russian-built Il-76. This aircraft is a far better platform, capable of remaining in the air for 12 hours at a stretch at an altitude of 30,000 feet.
drdo scientists say it will take at least a year for cabs to resume test flights. But should the Indian scout fructify, it will be an awesome feat. nato member countries and Saudi Arabia have been flying the E-3A Sentry of the US. Russia and Israel have the Il-76 aews. And, India would only be the fourth country to join this exclusive club.
